Okay, here's the deal with the how late this chapter is. No, it's not an excuse, just an explanation for those who want it. Here goes.

Should have been out by the 21st of June, day before last of school. School got out. Very busy cleaning for company. Best friend who lives about 3,000 miles away gets here. Use time when best friend and little brother are playing a game of Monopoly, but don't finish. Best friend has to go home. Little depressed, going to work on story but must pack for Youth Conference. YC lasted for 4 days, no computer. Get home, have lots of laundry to do! Aunt Jenny and 3yr old and 1yr old cousins arrive. No computer access for 3 days. (At least there was HBP) Was supposed to go somewhere, but they left without me, so I'm gonna go ahead and work on this instead of finishing HBP…

….. Okay, leaving later today (finished HBP), not finished typing. I'm gonna go ahead and give you what I've got now (maybe a tiny bit less) and when I get home I'll give you the rest. Sorry for the delays and thank you for your patience.
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Now, for the song problem… I have minimized the need for anyone to pull up song lyrics this chapter… I think. So, go get 'em if you want, but you don't really need to…. It may help though. I'm not sure.

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Disclaimer: I don't own any of it! ('Cept maybe the whole elevator dream - that was one of my favorite things ever to write! And no more celery to beat David with either… )

And sorry about the super long note! Onto the story now!

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Sam's car, on the way to the SGC, Jan. 1, 2005, 1700 ish

'He just woke up from a gunshot wound,' Sam tried to reason with herself. But still, it didn't make the sickening feeling she had gotten when he called Sharon "Honey" lessen any. She had thrown him out for crying out loud! Why had she shown up, beside the fact that his evil, evil mother had called her? Why was she even in town right now?

It made Sam wonder if Pete's mother had already been planning something along the lines of what had happened short minutes before, and if the shooting had helped her plan in some sick way. Maybe she was being paranoid, but at the same time, it made some sort of sense.

But right now she just wanted to get him off her mind. So she switched on the radio, which was still on the country station that she had last left it on.

The sound of the beginning of the chorus to "Fishin' in the Dark" by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band hit her ears.

She quickly switched it off, but after a moment decided that she must really be paranoid and turned it back on. Radio stations didn't gang up on people and make them hear all sorts of things to promote feelings that people had worked so diligently in trying to bury. Besides, the song would be over soon enough, and if nothing else, she could try changing the station again.

She caught more of the chorus, which spoke of falling in love, and moving slow…

Okay, maybe it was possible for the radio stations to gang up on a person. After all, they seemed to have been doing it all year long. And it wasn't as though she hadn't actually wanted to go to Minnesota with Jack; it was just that it really wouldn't look right, commanding officer and female second in command, disappearing for a while to go fishing in lake with no fish… even if Daniel and Teal'c went with them. She would just as soon avoid any issues it might bring up, regulation-wise and personally.

Yeah, she had almost gotten Pete out of her mind, but thinking about Jack just reminded her about how she had all but slapped him in the face when she had started dating Pete.

But right now she really didn't want to think about that focused on the song playing on the radio.

Now she heard the beginning of the second verse. It reminded her forcibly of how Jack had waited and waited to take her fishing, how he still persisted, though the song mentioned it being summer.

Ah, it was still winter and still cold. And yet Jack had asked her to go fishing, though she couldn't tell if is it was jokingly or seriously. Maybe it was a little of both, as when she gave him a good reason as to why they shouldn't go (besides what neither of them would say out loud), he found a way around it. She reminded him of the fact that there were no fish in his lake, and he had told her to bring ice-skates.

And then it mentioned waiting forever and the fish never biting and jumping into the water to cool off from the night's heat.

Okay, now she was indecisive about how well the song was describing her situation. The fish definitely wouldn't bite, but that was for lack of being present. The nights would definitely be cold this time of year, and if there was any getting to the water under the ice, it was likely that hypothermia would be the result.

And then the chorus began again. And as the title implied, it mentioned fishing in the dark, and it also mentioned staying for the whole night, and how good it was to be with the object of the singer's affection.

Okay, maybe she was really reading too much into this whole thing. It was a radio for crying out loud. But at least it was helping to lighten her mood, if only a bit. For a moment she reconsidered heading to the base right now. But after a short moment she decided that it would drive her absolutely insane to stay at home alone right now, and the people she could talk to about anything would all be inside of Cheyenne Mountain right now.

So she continued all the way there, occasionally singing along with the radio as songs she knew came on, regardless of what they may be about. But still she was nervous about showing up so soon. She wasn't technically supposed to be back for five more days, and was a little worried about what might happen. Still, her need to be somewhere familiar outweighed that small bit of doubt.

When she got there, she felt almost as though she was sneaking around. She didn't want to be seen by the general, though part of her knew he was probably the person she had originally intended to speak with. She got a couple of odd glances as she went about, but she wasn't sure as to whether they knew she wasn't supposed to be there, or if there was something written on her face. But as luck would have it, good or bad, she was soon was knocking lightly, then letting herself in to find a slightly surprised looking Daniel looking up from whatever it was that he had been on, and no one had tried to stop her.

"Oh, hey Sam. Aren't you supposed to be at home right now?"

"Yeah, how did you-"

"Jack made sure that everyone knew. I think he's either avoiding you, or else he really wants you to learn the meaning on downtime. And I think that the latter is more likely," he said, frowning at a bit of text on an oddly shaped object.

"Why? What's wrong with me wanting to be here?" she asked, now trying to avoid the issue she had come here to talk about.

"Because it's good to take a break sometimes. You know what they say about all work and no play…"

"Makes Jack a dull boy?"

"Is that really the end of the phrase? I never knew it."

"Really?"

"Yeah." He set down the object and looked up at her. "Sam, is something wrong?"

"Why would you think that?"

"You're defying a direct order. Even if it is just to stay away from work for awhile, there's got to be a good reason why you're here."

She frowned and looked away.

"Sam?"

She looked back and said very quickly, the words spilling out of her mouth, "I can't marry Pete. I don't even want to see him again, at least not for a long time."

"What happened?" he asked, concern clearly etched in his face.

"He got shot."

She didn't immediately offer any more information, which earned her an odd look from Daniel. "You can't talk to him," he began, giving her a signature Daniel Jackson quizzical look, "because he got shot?"

"Well, he was shot, and I went to see him at the hospital."

She then let it all pour out, all that she had wanted to say to Jack, or at least to someone close (she conveniently left out the Jack part), all that she had been feeling about the situation, how, if nothing else, she could not live with a mother-in-law like that. She told him how that simple word "honey" coming from Pete, saying it to someone else, had hurt like a zat gun shot, but different somehow. She let him know that somehow, she didn't know if she wanted to shoot Sharon with a staff weapon or thank her, how it was all so confusing. By the end of her rant she was fighting back tears.

Daniel whispered, "Oh Sam," while getting up to embrace her in a big, warm, brotherly hug. It was exactly what she needed at the moment. She held tight to him, muffling the slightest of sobs in his shoulder. It felt good to be wrapped up tightly and securely in the arms of someone who cared so much about her.

After a few long, comfortable moments, she muttered what sounded to him like, "ad the rado wush beeng mean."

"What?" he asked, pulling away enough to look at her face.

She shook her head and replied, "Nothing."

"No, what did you say?" he pressed.

She stepped out of his arms, and let out a sort of noise somewhere between a sigh and a laugh as far as Daniel could tell. "I said: 'And the radio was being mean.'"

"What's that mean?" he asked, now thoroughly confused. She had at least been making some sort of sense before now.

"It just kept playing rather implicative songs."

"Implicative as to what?" Daniel asked.

"Nothing. Just… never mind."

"Alright," he conceded, thinking that he may have a bit of an idea as to what she meant. After all, a good majority of the songs played on the radio were some sort of love song or another. Then he added, "When are you going to tell him?"

"Tell who what?"

"Sam?" he questioned. He knew she hadn't forgotten all that quickly. "When are you going to tell Pete what you just told me? Or at least enough of it for him to get the picture." He added as a bit of an after thought and in a bit of a teasing manner, "I mean, I don't suppose you tell someone you're breaking up with that the radio was being mean to you..."

She gave him a look and said, "I don't think I can."

"Sam, you just told me that you don't love him and that you can't marry him, but you're not going to break up with him?" he asked, perhaps a bit harshly.

"Well, of course I'm going to tell him, but I mean, he's in the hospital, he just got shot..." she trailed off, looking away from Daniel again.

"Oh, so you're afraid you're going to do him more damage calling off the wedding and all than has already been done by that bullet?" He saw the look that passed over her face and didn't wait for any more answer than that. "Sam, that's his problem, not yours. And besides, from what you tell me, he dealt you a pretty hard blow himself."

"I know, but... I just... I don't know what to say to him Daniel."

"Tell him what you told me. And you may want to do it soon, before you have second thoughts on breaking up with him."

Was that good advice, or a biased comment? wondered Sam.

He explained further, "I mean, if you're having second thoughts now, it's obviously not the thing to do, but if you have second thoughts about your second thoughts then you may end up in a marriage you want out of... Did that make any sense?"

"Sort of, but don't a lot of women have second thoughts about their weddings, go through with it, and then end up really happy?"

"I suppose, but I'm guessing that they actually talk to their fiancé about it, and don't come running to work to find someone to talk to to figure it out."

Sam sighed. She knew he was right. Probably not about the possible third thoughts, or rather, second thoughts about her second thoughts as Daniel had so eloquently put it, but rather about being more ready to talk to with her coworkers - even if they happened to be her closest friends and practically her family- than she was to talk to Pete.

"Alright," she said, "I'll tell him. But can't it wait another day?"

"I don't think it should." Daniel wasn't quite sure where that advice had come from, but it certainly seemed the right thing to say.

"Okay, I'll tell him today," Sam said, knowing that if Daniel wasn't pushing her she probably would leave it sit until the last moment possible before telling him, and she was grateful for it. "Can't I just call him or something though?"

If Sam still had the ability to shock him, she would have done right then. In fact, maybe she did shock him a bit. "No," he said firmly. "Absolutely not."

She gave a questioning look to which he replied, "I will not let you sink to that level."

"I know, I know," was her reply. And she did know. She wouldn't have done it over the phone, or by way of email, or anything like that, but that didn't mean she couldn't at least ask about it.

"I hope you do know," he told her, still firmly, which made her wonder if perhaps he had been broken up with by way of the phone in the past. Though it couldn't possibly have been a positive experience, she couldn't help but be a little amused at the thought. "Now, go, before Jack catches you hanging around here and you get both of us into trouble."

"Yes sir!" she said as she left, in a playful tone that let him know that her spirits had been lifted considerably, but also in a bit of a shaky way that let him know that she was more nervous about this than she would be about trying to make her way back to the gate in an area completely surrounded by enemy Jaffa.

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Jack walked down the hall in the direction of Daniel's office. He saw someone walk out and almost couldn't believe his eyes. Though she wasn't facing him, he would recognize that blonde hair and that walk anywhere, even wearing civvies at work when she was supposed to be on down time. It was a direct order for crying out loud! He almost called out to stop her. She would certainly have a really good reason for being here against orders, and he wanted to know what it was, but he stopped. If she had wanted him to know, she would have told him, wouldn't she? He surprised himself with the realization that he didn't actually know.

Still he let her go without saying anything. Waiting until after she was out of sight, he walked right into Daniel's office to interrogate him.

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Sam walked out of Daniel's office feeling both relieved and nervous. She knew she needed to go get it over with right away, but that didn't make it any easier. Actually, maybe it did. That way this horrible feeling she had looming over her would go away sooner. She hoped.

Driving in silence, afraid to turn her radio on, Sam mad her way back to the hospital the Pete was staying at. She ran over what she needed to say in her mind, but nothing sounded right.

'Pete, I'm sorry, but I'm just not ready to get married, I don't think I can commit to you, and the radio has been reinforcing it.'

'Pete, I know you still love Sharon, and I don't think she's over you, and there's someone who I'm too attached to right now, and I just can't do this.'

'Pete, I'm sorry, but it's a bad idea to go out with a friend of your brother's, and I just can't marry one.'

'Pete, sometimes you're just too insensitive, especially after you've been shot on duty and your ex-wife is around.'

'Pete, I hate your mother too much to ever marry you.'

'Pete, I just haven't gotten over the fact that you did a background check on me, and there's just something about your voice that is too annoying for me to have to deal with for the rest of my life.'

'Pete, you're just not him.'

Something in the back of her head told her who he was, and she couldn't help but acknowledge it at least a little bit. She had to come up with something better to say, but she just didn't know what. As Sam pulled into the parking lot, she almost just skipped parking to rush back home to hide out. But no, she had to get this done now. She didn't wanted to back out of it, and she couldn't help but think of how she was quite certain that Daniel didn't want her to back out of it either.

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Okay, that's what I'm giving you for now. (There's actually a bit more than that, but it didn't for cutting off.) I'm off to church now, and straightaway after that I am leaving for NHTI.

Thank you so much everyone who has reviewed so far, and I am really going to try to get the rest up soon after I get home, but as we can all tell, it's not safe for me to make any promises about when it will be posted. Hopefully in a little under a week though.